Subordinate Status Research Articles

Minimizing the time to evaluate pheromone-mediated reduction of aggressive behavior in Mozambique tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus).

Some cichlid fishes release urine-containing chemical cues that lower aggression in their opponents. Bioassays to identify the aggression-modulating pheromone include assessing the effect of urine fractions on the behavior towards a mirror image or in interactions with another male. However, many of these methods can be time-consuming and require many fish. The objective of the present study was to assess the behavior of male Mozambique tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus) towards male urine using two methods with the intent of simplifying the bioassays: aggression towards a mirror image (mirror assay) and real opponents in which the urogenital papilla was tied using surgical silk to prevent urination. The results confirm the aggression-reducing effect of dominant male urine in both experimental approaches. Ten minutes of biting or 15 min of tail-beating behaviors in the mirror assay, or 5 min of opercular expansion or 15 min of lateral display in interactions with real opponents were necessary to detect a statistically significant reduction in aggressive behavior towards dominant male urine. We also found that males with subordinate status had lower latency to initiate aggressive behaviors towards the mirror than dominants in the same condition, even though fish had been isolated for 1 week. However, no such differences in latency were found in the real opponent assay. We conclude that 5 min of opercular expansion behavior in real opponent fights or 10 min of biting behavior in the mirror assay are the shortest times necessary to test aggressive behavior in urine fractions in bioassay-guided identification of pheromones.

Expressing Gender Opposition in Kazakh Proverbs Through Metaphor

Despite the growing interest in gender differences reflected in proverbs, little attention has been paid to binary oppositions in the proverbial discourse. The paper aims to explore metaphorical gender representations in Kazakh proverbs. It focuses on how the gender oppositions in proverbs reflect the socio-cultural perceptions of gender relations in the Kazakh culture, and what new information about gender can be gained from the study of gender oppositions in proverbs. The research material was drawn from the dictionary The Ancestors' Words by purposive sampling. The study used a qualitative research design and focused on proverbs based on binary gender oppositions involving man- and woman-specific social actors. The cognitive representations of gender oppositions were examined using the Conceptual Metaphor Theory. As a result, proverbs containing binary gender oppositions are shown to reflect a typical patriarchal worldview based on the image of a man as a provider for the family, warrior and defender possessing physical strength and higher social status, and the image of a woman as a guardian of the family hearth having a subordinate status. At the same time, they reveal the complementarity of the metaphorically expressed male and female binary oppositions. Thus, gender metaphors placed in opposition in proverbs highlight the multifacetedness of gender relations in the Kazakh family and society and the inseparability and importance of both genders in the family union. The paper suggests a fresh line of investigation into the metaphorical meaning of proverbs based on binary oppositions.

GENDER INEQUALITY AND HEALTH: A STUDY OF ELDERLY IN ALIGARH CITY

Women are more susceptible to unjust treatment, discrimination, and denial of fundamental human rights such as survival, education, health, inheritance, etc. due to social factors such as male domination and their subordinate status. Women experience two distinct disadvantages in the aging population due to gender-based roles and stereotypes. As a result, they are treated poorly in society. While aging is unavoidable, its gendered inequalities are not. Gender greatly impacts both mens and womens health in India. This in turn affects a persons susceptibility to illness and likelihood of experiencing health problems. The present study is both primary and secondary in nature. This paper tried to analyse the social and health issues faced by the elderly and examine gender-based inequalities in healthcare among the elderly in a selected area of Aligarh City in India and suggest ways to promote gender equality among the elderly by challenging the established pattern of inequality in health. KEYWORDS: Elderly, Gender, Health, Aging

La pérdida de la riqueza: un mito embera sobre el origen de las razas y la desigualdad social

This article analyzes an Embera myth from northwest Colombia that sheds light on the origin of racial disparities and the poverty experienced by indigenous communities in comparison to “whites.” Methodologically, the myth was collected using ethnographic techniques in the Jaikerazabi community, located in the municipality of Mutatá, Antioquia. The interpretation involves identifying the myth’s structure and analyzing the historical and social context that perpetuates inequalities between the Embera and other groups. According to the myth, the subordinate status of indigenous peoples stemmed from their perceived weakness and the decree of the god Karagabí, who supposedly favored the abilities of whites and mestizos. The article concludes that this myth offers insights into racial hierarchies and socio-spatial, economic, and political dynamics resulting from colonization and the country’s development model. The myth legitimizes the historical domination over the Embera people by presenting modern rationality as canonical, diminishing the value of traditionally inhabited spaces and condemning indigenous people to poverty for not conforming to the Western model. However, it also serves as an attempt to comprehend and potentially transform these inequalities. The originality of the article lies in providing insight into Embera culture through the lens of myth to provide a perspective on how indigenous people perceive the inequality they experience. This approach also recognizes myths as evolving narratives that adapt to historical changes experienced by these societies.

The Labor Market and Gender during the 20th Century: An Analysis of the Causes of the Feminization of Welfare Policy in Argentina

This article delves into the intricate relationship between the evolution of Argentina’s labor market, particularly the historical inclusion of women, and the contours of contemporary social welfare policies for female recipients. Set against the backdrop of a decades-long crisis in employment and income, especially affecting low-income families and women tasked with caregiving responsibilities, the article posits the hypothesis that the trend of feminization in social welfare policies partly stems from the pauperization of Argentina’s labor market in the latter part of the 20th century and the historically subordinate role of women within patriarchal capitalist societies. Employing an empirical-historical methodology, it scrutinizes the shifts and dynamics of the labor market over the 20th century as well as the features of the welfare policy framework at the beginning of the 21st century. The article is a contribution to Argentina’s labor market and social policy literature and portrays current socio-welfare programs as an adaptation to the employment and income crisis, further entrenching women’s subordinate status within the social fabric.

THE SOCIAL STATUS OF GREEK WOMEN IN THE HELLENISTIC ERA (ATHENS AS AN EXAMPLE)

When the situation in Greece shanged the beginning of the Hellenistic era, the city-state system has fallen, and the transformation of cities and their residents into the status of subordination to the great political powers of that time. Athens maintained some independence, which had an impact on the family and community. Women in the Hellenistic era, especially Athenian women, suffered from some unjust laws that were enacted by the famous legislator and politician Demetrius of Phalerum, which had a bad impact on the social status of women. However, these laws were soon repealed, and women relatively regained some of their independence. The research focuses on the problems of Greek women in Athens and the Greek world, including education, which is one of the important topics. The extent of freedom they enjoyed and the prominent social status that some women obtained, while showing examples of women who distinguished themselves in various social fields. The research paper also presents some social and economic problems for Greek women in general in the Hellenistic era, as well as the problem of population and wars and their impact. The status of Athenian women compared to the status of women throughout the Hellenistic world

Higher Education, Policy, Research and Community development: A case study of Muslim female college students at Gulbarga city

In our national perception, education is essential for all; this is fundamental to our all-round development, material and spiritual. Education has an acculturating role. It refines sensitivities and perception that contribute to national cohesion, a scientific temper and independence of mind and spirit. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial and religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace. Since religion is one phase of people ’s culture groups of this type may be classified with ethnic minorities. Thus, Hindu are minorities in Pakistan, Muslim in India protestants in Italy, and Roman Catholics in the United States. Thus, the minorities, group of people who are held together by ties of common descent, physical characteristics, tradition, custom, language or religion or any combination of these and who in relation to some other group with which they are associated, occupy a subordinate status, receive differential treatment, and are excluded from full participation in the life and culture of the society of which they are a part. In the present work, an attempt has made to mirror the social and higher educational status of Muslim women by selecting Research topic Higher Education, policy Research and community development, A case study of Muslim female college students at Gulbarga city.

Cultural hegemony and ethnic minority struggles in Nigeria

ABSTRACT This study explores the plight of ethnic minorities and marginals and their increasing quest to obliterate their subordinate status and attempts by the dominant groups to maintain the status quo in Nigeria. Such interactions have induced resistance and increasingly stimulated questions of insecurity. Extant explanations of ethnic hegemony have mainly focused on describing and analysing the phenomenon with the attendant socio-political, economic, and environmental issues. This approach has neglected the interaction between hegemony and resistance in majority/minority relations. This brings to the fore the need to interrogate this missing link. Drawing from interviews, institutional reports, and other secondary sources and relying on the cultural hegemony thesis, we argue that questions of cultural hegemony and instances of resistance, counter-resistance, and reverse influences have had significant consequences for contemporary Nigeria’s politics. This trend stimulated bitterness, suspicion, and violence in the socio-political life of the country and manifested in voting patterns and political violence.

Driving as essential, cycling as conditional: how automobility is politically sustained in discourses of everyday mobility

Car-based automobility remains dominant across Europe despite the high energy requirements such a system embeds. This system is becoming increasingly problematised. As part of an alternative vision for everyday mobility, an aspiration for vélomobility appears to be growing. In light of the persistent subordinate status of cycling across much of Europe relative to driving, attempts to lay the foundations for everyday cycling are often pursued through the implementation of redistributive cycleways and broader public space measures that prioritise active travel. These important attempts to change public space can be blocked through public opposition, which can feature as part of broader social practices that may politically sustain automobility as a dominant system. In this study, we explore how automobility is politically sustained in discourses of opposition to a major active travel scheme proposal in the context of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, Ireland. We uncover how a normatively car-centric discourse of everyday mobility constructs driving as the essential mobility practice for the functional tasks of everyday life, while cycling is relegated to recreational and conditional mobility, and briefly consider how an alternative discourse of everyday mobility that decentres the car may be advanced.

Novel phenotypes of feeding and social behaviour and their relationship with individual rabbit growth and feed efficiency

Due to the lack of a recording system for individual consumption of group-housed rabbits, published studies about feeding behaviour are based on information recorded at the group- and not at the individual level and periods covering only a few days or, in some cases, only part of a day. Such information could be used to inform rabbit management systems but cannot be used for genetic selection. We aimed to generate and use information from a novel automated feeder for group-housed rabbits to identify new phenotypes for individual animals that could be incorporated into breeding programs to improve feed efficiency and social behaviour under different feeding regimens. At 39 d of age, rabbits from 15 batches were placed in cages and fed ad libitum to become used to the electronic feeder. From 42 to 58–59 d, one group of 1 086 rabbits was fed ad libitum (AL), while another group of 1 134 rabbits was fed on a restricted feeding schedule (R) by limiting the feeding time to the period between 1800 and 0600 h of the following day. We implemented a reliable multivariate method to remove anomalous feeding behaviour records. We then defined novel traits for feeding behaviour that apply to both types of feeding regimes, and for social behaviour that indicates an animal’s rank within the cage hierarchy. We based these traits on feeder records and a biologically sound definition of a meal. Finally, we estimated the phenotypic correlations of those traits with growth and feed efficiency traits. Our findings demonstrate that variables about resource distribution among cage mates and an animal's priority for feed access were found to be good indicators of an animal's dominant or subordinate status within the cage. Based on results obtained in R animals (results were similar in AL animals), the most efficient animals were those that ate less frequently (phenotypic correlation with feed conversion ratio, rho = 0.6), and consumed smaller amounts per meal (rho = 0.7), spent less time at the feeder (rho = 0.4), and appeared to be subordinate, as they did not have priority access to the feeder (rho = −0.3), and had the smallest share of resources (range of rho = 0.2–0.6). We conclude that quantifying feeding and social behaviour traits can enhance the understanding of the mechanisms through which individuals exert their effects on the performance of their cage mates.

Effective Implementation of Gender and Development Policy in a Public Tertiary Health Institution in Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria

The global introduction of the millennium Development Goals has drawn National attentions to pursuing gender and development policies, geared towards achieving gender equality. The Nigerian government keyed into this policy, replaced the erstwhile National Policy on women adopted in the year 2000 with National gender policy in 2006 The 2006 Gender and Development Policy was reviewed in Nigeria; which led to the 2021-2026 gender and development policy. The 2021-2026 policy draws from the 2006 National Gender and development Policy whose overall goal was to provide ‘strategic policy guidance for mainstreaming gender at all levels as well as address the inequalities that exist in the socio-economic sphere, and combat all forms of violence against women and girls, among other things. The policy goal is aimed at eliminating cultural, religious gender based biases and harmful cultural and religious practices which tend to reproduce inequalities in gender roles relations in the Nigerian society and thereby giving a subordinate status to women compared to men. Hence, development opportunities continue to elude women since the policy failed to challenge the structure which reproduces gender inequality and overall disempowerment of women. This study therefore examined effective implementation of gender and development policy in public health institutions in Nigeria. It is clear that implementation of gender and development policy is not effective and contrary to expectation. With the new and revised policy in place, the Nigerian government can learn from the previous policies and ensure that there is clear tracking and monitoring of the impact of each of the objectives so as to fully do away with gender inequality in the country; recommendations were also made.

Public decision making by women’s self-help groups and its contributions to women’s empowerment: Evidence from West Bengal, India

Despite considerable efforts made by development scholars and practitioners to address women’s subordinate status, gender inequality remains pervasive. Feminist scholars have advocated for a reframing of the notion of women’s empowerment that shifts away from a purely economistic approach to one that encompasses individual consciousness, resource access, and collective action components. Women’s self-help groups (SHGs) present an opportunity to address such goals. Yet, evidence of how SHGs can leverage their collective power to generate positive change and transform perceptions of women’s abilities remains scant. Using process tracing, we demonstrate how women’s collective decision making in the public sphere can lead to women’s empowerment by illustrating how a group of SHGs in West Bengal, India formed a group identity and leveraged its power to execute community-based initiatives. This involved: (1) the establishment of trust, unity, and solidarity among group members via effective leaders who emphasized the consistent participation of all members in group activities; (2) the development of the SHGs’ sense of self-sufficiency and their legitimacy as decision-making bodies within their community through a self-led project to establish a grain bank in their village; and (3) the exercise of that legitimacy and developing sense of authority via organization around a controversial goal—alcohol prohibition—that sought to change male behavior for women’s benefit. We conclude that public decision making by SHGs working collaboratively at scale can lead to enduring empowerment because it can put women in a position to challenge patriarchal norms.

Connecting Masculinities to Men's Illness Vulnerabilities and Resilience.

Men's illness vulnerabilities and resilience are two predominant and regularly linked constructs in the masculinities and men's health literature. There has been a steady stream of men's strength-based vulnerabilities in the form of illness testimonials amid critiques that such disclosures are mere props for bolstering patriarchal power. The current article presents secondary analyses of case studies with four participants who took part in wide-ranging qualitative health studies to detail diverse connections between masculinities and men's illness vulnerabilities and resilience. Prostate cancer-related vulnerabilities feature in the first case study where Arthur's resilience for reclaiming his erectile function post-prostatectomy mobilizes an objection masculinity contesting his marginality. In the second case study, Chuck's vulnerabilities are conceded as permanent flowing from his severe mental illness, a positionality situating resilience as obligatory for his survival. Here, Chuck embodies a resignate masculinity that accepts but works to manage the harms of his subordinate status. In the aftermath of his young son's suicide, Jack laments that he did not model vulnerabilities. Resilience for understanding his loss influences a reimagined masculinity where Jack contemplates changes to gender norms for his and other men's lives. Lastly, Sami replaces maladaptive actions for dousing vulnerabilities incurred through a partner-initiated separation with resilience for self-growth. Aspiring progress masculinity, Sami deconstructs his emotions and behaviors to positively change how he shows up as a man, father, and partner. The case studies reveal connections between objection, resignate, reimagined, and progress masculinities and men's illness vulnerabilities and resilience to advance empirical, gender theory and methodological insights.

Angela Rayner (Member of Parliament) and the “Basic Instinct Ploy”: Intersectional misrecognition of women leaders' legitimacy, productive resistance and flexing (patriarchal) discourse

AbstractThis paper interrogates a shift in patriarchal media discourse related to women leaders' recognition and legitimation in the UK. We conduct a multimodal discourse analysis of an online newspaper article about the UK politician and Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, Angela Rayner, and analyzed public responses. Understanding the media as a means to distribute power and enable the challenging of norms, we contribute a theory of intersectional misrecognition in media's representation of women political leaders. This reveals an enduring and dynamic subordinate status of women leaders, shown specifically through the intersection of gender and class. We theorize that while women leaders continue to be misrecognized in the media, destabilizing their legitimacy, there is a demonstrable flexing of patriarchal discourse combined with stronger and accelerated resistance to ongoing sexism. We identify this resistance as productive in its call for consequences and a redistribution of cultural values, reflecting a discursive shift toward a productive resistance of resilient gender norms, evident in the intersection of gender with class. Intersectional misrecognition has value in making inequalities explicit for women leaders and where there may be productive tensions with potential to mobilize for change.

Dominance status modulates activity in medial amygdala cells with projections to the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis

The medial amygdala (MeA) controls several types of social behavior via its projections to other limbic regions. Cells in the posterior dorsal and posterior ventral medial amygdala (MePD and MePV, respectively) project to the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) and these pathways respond to chemosensory cues and regulate aggressive and defensive behavior. Because the BNST is also essential for the display of stress-induced anxiety, a MePD/MePV-BNST pathway may modulate both aggression and responses to stress. In this study we tested the hypothesis that dominant animals would show greater neural activity than subordinates in BNST-projecting MePD and MePV cells after winning a dominance encounter as well as after losing a social defeat encounter. We created dominance relationships in male and female Syrian hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus), used cholera toxin b (CTB) as a retrograde tracer to label BNST-projecting cells, and collected brains for c-Fos staining in the MePD and MePV. We found that c-Fos immunoreactivity in the MePD and MePV was positively associated with aggression in males, but not in females. Also, dominant males showed a greater proportion of c-Fos+ /CTB+ double-labeled cells compared to their same-sex subordinate counterparts. Another set of animals received social defeat stress after acquiring a dominant or subordinate social status and we stained for stress-induced c-Fos expression in the MePD and MePV. We found that dominant males showed a greater proportion of c-Fos+ /CTB+ double-labeled cells in the MePD after social defeat stress compared to subordinates. Also, dominants showed a longer latency to submit during social defeat than subordinates. Further, in males, latency to submit was positively associated with the proportion of c-Fos+ /CTB+ double-labeled cells in the MePD and MePV. These findings indicate that social dominance increases neural activity in BNST-projecting MePD and MePV cells and activity in this pathway is also associated with proactive responses during social defeat stress. In sum, activity in a MePD/MePV-BNST pathway contributes to status-dependent differences in stress coping responses and may underlie experience-dependent changes in stress resilience.

African Americans and the Multiple Meanings of Debt in the United States Since the Civil War

It is hard to review African American history without confronting the multiple meanings of debt. There was debt owed, debt paid, debt inherited, and debt hidden in the social tax associated with a subordinate status in the United States. All of these meanings are embedded in the murder of Elmore Bolling. Called Buddy by his relatives, Bolling defied probability by building a highly successful business in Lowndesboro, Alabama, in the 1930s and 1940s. He used debt in a conventional sense, to lease a plantation. Yet his entrepreneurial skills allowed him to offset that debt and amass wealth. He grew corn, cotton, and sugar cane. More impressively, he owned a general store, a gas station, a fleet of trucks, and a catering business, which enabled him to employ at least forty other Black residents. His business acumen allowed him to maintain $40,000 in the bank and another $5,000 in other assets, a remarkable sum for a Black man in the American South during the Jim Crow era.

Gender representation in animal-related proverbs: Algerian vs. Jordanian Arabic.

This study explores the connotative meanings in animal-related proverbs used to describe the behavior of men and women in Algerian and Jordanian societies. A questionnaire with 46 Algerian and 45 Jordanian animal-related proverbs was distributed to 30 native Arabic speakers enrolled at the University of Jordan. The analysis focused on adapted categories with a gender perspective, including inferiority, weakness, stupidity, ill-nature, objectification, ugliness, positivity, and shrewdness. Both Algerian and Jordanian animal-related proverbs exhibited diverse connotative meanings. Women were predominantly associated with derogatory connotations in both languages, portraying characteristics such as weakness, stupidity, inferiority, cunningness, and trickery. Similar characteristics were present in descriptions of men, but women in Arab cultures were consistently depicted as subordinate and denigrated. Conversely, men were portrayed with authority, control, superiority, and strength over women. Additionally, positive depictions included animals like gazelles, peacocks, partridges, cats, and horses to symbolize the beauty of women. Men's positive characteristics, such as strength, courage, and superiority, were associated with horses, camels, and lions. This study highlights the prevalent connotations in animal-related proverbs used to describe men and women in Algerian and Jordanian societies. It reveals derogatory portrayals of women, reinforcing their subordinate status, while men are depicted with authority and power. However, positive representations emerged, attributing beauty to women and highlighting admirable qualities in men. These findings shed light on the complex dynamics of gender portrayal within cultural proverbs, emphasizing the need for further examination of these linguistic expressions.

Assessment of the current physical and chemical status of the alluvial soils of the Volga-Akhtuba floodplain and the Volga delta

The article dwells upon the study of the current physico-chemical status of the alluvial dark-humus soils of the floodplain hayfields of the Volga-Akhtuba floodplain and the Volga delta. Alluvial soils are formed in special semiaquatic conditions; they are the result of alluvial and soil-forming processes. Considered to be dynamic both in natural and anthropogenic conditions. They have subordinate status and remain to be barriers and accumulators of various chemical elements while performing a sanitary and hygienic role in floodplain and delta ecosystems. Due to the increased anthropogenic load on alluvial soils, the study of their physico-chemical status, which affects the migration of chemical elements, becomes particularly significant. The alluvial soils of the Volga-Akhtuba floodplain and the Volga delta are characterized by a polynomial profile in which soil horizons of varying development degrees alternate with river sediments. The soils of the studied landscapes are characterized by good agrophysical and relatively satisfactory agrochemical condition. It was found that bunds on the territory of the delta as well as in the floodplain have negative impact on the physico-chemical status of alluvial soils and actively develop secondary salinization. The focus is on the agrochemical properties of alluvial dark-humus soils, particularly on the content of humus and nutrients. According to the granulometric composition, the studied soils are medium and heavy loamy, they have a good supply of productive moisture. In the soils of the Southeastern part of the floodplain, the processes of salinization, dehumification and alkalization are most present.

Men Who Brew: Masculinity and the Production of Drink in Medieval Icelandic Literature

Men Who Brew: Masculinity and the Production of Drink in Medieval Icelandic Literature

Not WEIRD at all! Towards More Pluralistic Economies and Sustainable Livelihoods

Sustainability discourses are dominated by Western, educated, industrialized, rich and democratic (WEIRD) perspectives. Critics call for remedies to patriarchy, capitalism, and colonialism; and for work that is inclusive of women, non-market influences, and epistemologies of the global South. Focusing on women's work, this paper interrogates the epistemic and practical injustices of geography and gender. The empirical domain is a middle-income economy, offering insight from the space between WEIRD and subsistence extremes. 15 case studies of Malay female micro-entrepreneurs draw on interview, observational and secondary data, tracing the effects of market formalization on market actors. Despite subordinate social status, the women provide reliable income streams for their families. However, their livelihoods are threatened by rapidly formalizing markets. Market formalization crowds out the small and diverse in favor of the large and multinational. To address that problem, a pro-social systems view is required, based on pluralistic conceptions of economies and markets. Drawing on Gibson-Graham's diverse economies perspective we derive 12 propositions supporting sustainable livelihoods. Sustainable livelihoods support quality of life and wellbeing, are embedded in less damaging and more inclusive (vs patriarchal, colonial and capitalistic) provisioning systems, in turn embedded in epistemologies that are reflexively conscious of power dynamics and the WEIRD hegemony. In line with the paradoxes and tensions in sustainability thinking we call for pluralism: Conscious acceptance of all economic approaches, formal and informal, state and non-state, global and local, capitalist and planned; with an emphasis on physical, emotional and social well-being, self-determination, diversity, health, and happiness for the many rather than wealth for the few.